LITTLE ROCK — The boyfriend acquitted of slaying Arkansas Tech University student Nona Dirksmeyer sued members of the Russellville Police Department (RPD) on Thursday, accusing them of engaging in a conspiracy with Gary Dunn, who was later arrested and charged with the crime.

Kevin Jones filed the suit in federal court in Little Rock against RPD Det. Mark Frost, then-Chief James Bacon and Dunn. He alleged Frost and Bacon “tacitly agreed” to protect Dunn from prosecution in order to have Jones prosecuted for Dirksmeyer’s murder. He has requested $5 million compensatory damages and $5 million exemplary damages.

Jones was acquitted in 2007 for the Dec. 15, 2005, slaying of Dirksmeyer. Dunn was arrested for the same crime in August 2008 and was tried twice, once in April 2010 and again in January 2011. Both trials ended in hung juries.

To date, prosecutors have declined to prosecute Dunn a third time, and released him from state custody in April.

Jones’ suit, filed on his behalf by Dermott-based attorney Charles Sidney Gibson, stated in part, “Having prematurely decided and announced to a clamoring public that Kevin was Nona’s killer, they pointedly ignored and covered up evidence of Dunn’s guilt. They, and of course Dunn, were quite willing to send an innocent man, this plaintiff, to prison for the rest of his life ...”

According to the lawsuit, Dunn allegedly created a false alibi, which Frost determined to be false, but did not advise the prosecutor of such.

Among other allegations in Jones’ suit:

• Frost lobbied the polygrapher to slant his findings in Dunn’s favor. The suit alleges Dunn failed the test, which Frost allegedly insinuated was because of a heart condition, “to which the polygrapher replied, ‘I’ll say he passed.’”

• “Frost falsely informed the prosecutor that the FBI Behavioral Science team supported his conclusion that Kevin staged the crime scene, faked a later discovery and handled Nona’s body to provide an explanation of blood” that might have been on Kevin’s clothing prior to discovery of the body.

• Frost purposely did not obtain DNA testing of the condom wrapper found at the crime scene. The condom was later tested, at the request of Jones’ defense team, and found to exclude Jones and contain DNA compatible with Dunn, according to the suit.

• “Frost didn’t cooperate with a subsequent Arkansas State Police (ASP) investigation by refusing to give over his investigative notes that contained, inter alia, proof of Dunn’s false alibi.”

The suit also states Frost waited nine days from the time he was informed of Dunn’s proximity to Dirksmeyer’s residence and past conviction for assaulting a woman before he interviewed Dunn. The suit also alleges that Frost’s field notes indicate when he did interview Dunn, he was able to discredit Dunn’s alibi.

“Frost never submitted his field notes to (Prosecuting Attorney David) Gibbons, consequently, highly exculpatory evidence never made it to Kevin’s defense attorneys,” the lawsuit claims. “Yet, he furnished the notes to Dunn’s defense attorneys which influenced their decision not to put Dunn on the stand in his trials.”

Gibson spoke to a reporter Thursday and said when the gag order on the case was lifted in October, he was able to obtain Frost’s field notes, which he called the “lynch pin” to the filing of the present suit. Gibson filed a previous suit on Jones’ behalf in April, seeking documents related to the investigation of the murder. The documents he sought were largely denied him because of the gag order in the case, but he was able to obtain the needed documents after release of the gag order, he said.

This information, Gibson said, should have been given to Jones’ defense team during his 2007 trial.

“Consequently, Jones did not have a defense available to him that another person of interest was involved and didn’t know of Dunn being in the world — he certainly didn’t know he lived across the way” from Dirksmeyer and had previously been convicted of assaulting another woman, Gibson said, adding, “And I don’t think the prosecutor was told either,” because of his public comments.